1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a device for transporting a magnetic head for transporting a row bar-shaped thin film magnetic head cut from a wafer, and a device for inspecting a magnetic head as well as a method for manufacturing a magnetic head using the device for transporting a magnetic head, in particular, the present invention relates to a device for transporting a magnetic head, a device for inspecting a magnetic head, and a method for manufacturing a magnetic head, capable of transporting a row bar-shaped thin film magnetic head with respect to a carrying portion of an inspection device.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, with the rapid increase of surface recording density of a hard disk drive (HDD), the write track width of a thin film magnetic head becomes smaller, so the technology for accurately inspecting the write track width written onto a magnetic disk by a recording head (element) contained in the thin film magnetic head is more and more important.
In the prior art, the shape of the recording head (element) contained in the thin film magnetic head is detected by using an optical microscope. However, as the track width becomes smaller, the write track width reaches the resolution of the optical system or is even lower than the resolution of the optical system, so it is difficult to detect the shape of the recording head (element) by using an optical microscope. Therefore, a scanning electron microscope (SEM) is adopted to replace the optical microscope to detect the shape of the recording head (element) recently. However, the detection with SEM is a destructive inspection, and like the optical microscope, the SEM merely detects the physical shape of the recording head (element), and the following problem occurs, that is, it is difficult to determine the correlation of the effective track width (write track width) of the magnetism actually written onto the magnetic disk. Furthermore, even the technique of using an atomic force microscope (AFM) is adopted to detect the shape of the recording head (element), the same problem still occurs. Recently, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2003-248911, a device for detecting a magnetic head is disclosed, in which the device for detecting a magnetic head has the following structure: a magnetic force microscope (MFM) is used to visually observe the magnetic field saturation phenomena as a magnetic field characteristic of the recording head.
When the SEM or AFM is used to detect the shape of the magnetic head (recording head), although the physical shape of the recording head (element) can be detected, the effective track width of the magnetism actually written onto the magnetic disk (write track width) cannot be determined. Therefore, in the prior art, in a state after the magnetic head and a suspension are integrated (head gimbal assembly (HGA) state) or a simulation HGA state, a special detecting device for head disk (referred to as a spin-stand) is used to inspect the write track width.
However, if the inspection using the spin-stand is not performed in a final process of magnetic head manufacturing, i.e., in the HGA state or the simulation HGA state, the inspection of the write track width cannot be performed. Therefore, the method is not very ideal in view of improving productivity or early feedback required during manufacturing.
Therefore, the applicant of the present invention proposed a method and a device for inspecting a magnetic head, which can perform the inspection of the write track width of a row bar-shaped magnetic head at a stage as early as possible during the manufacturing process (Japanese Patent Publication No. 2003-248911 and Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-263746). Moreover, in the application, a transporting mechanism for transporting a row bar-shaped thin film magnetic head to a staged portion of a carrying table of the inspecting device is also described. The transporting mechanism arranges and stores a plurality of row bar-shaped thin film magnetic heads on a tray at a tilt angle of 45 degrees, two ends of each row bar are hooked by hook parts of hook fingers and lifted up from the tray, and the thin film magnetic heads are moved and transported by a handling robot, and located on the staged portion of the carrying table. As all the row bar-shaped thin film magnetic heads stored on the tray are maintained at a tilt angle of 45 degrees, special hook fingers are required to suspend the row bar-shaped thin film magnetic heads in the tilt state.
In another aspect, when processing or inspecting the row bar-shaped thin film magnetic heads, various trays (storage cases) will be used when transporting the magnetic heads between processes, and the storage state or posture etc. (tilt angle) of the row bar-shaped thin film magnetic heads is different in different storage cases. Furthermore, an inspection device for inspection during the processes requires the row bar-shaped thin film magnetic heads to face a fixed direction for inspection. Therefore, when performing automatic inspection of the row bar-shaped thin film magnetic heads, a mechanism for rotating or aligning the row bar-shaped thin film magnetic heads before or after the inspection is required.
However, the row bar-shaped thin film magnetic head is a slender rectangular plate having a lateral width of about 1 mm, a height of about 0.2-0.3 mm, and a length of about 40-70 mm, and the slender rectangular plate has about 90 head sliders formed in the length direction, and thus the problem of difficulty in processing occurs because of the shape.